Banned Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Goes On Sale In OZ

OZ Consumers appear to be finding ways to buy the Samsung tablet that Apple doesn't want retailers to stock and to top it off they even get a 12 month Australian Warranty.

An investigation by SmartHouse reveals that several web sites are offering the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet that Justice Amanda Bennett banned from going on sale in Australia, until a full hearing in its patent infringement case with Apple.

Samsung Australia denies that they have organised supply overseas and Australian web site operators claim they are sourcing stock from distributors in Asia.

ChannelNews has been told that a leading distributor who traditionally sells IT products into the consumer electronics and IT market has also obtained stock from overseas. The distributor refused to comment when contacted by ChannelNews.

A visit to Techrific.com.au reveals the disputed Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 on sale for a variety of prices ranging from $529, $589, to $609 for a 16GB version. The same tablet is selling in the USA for $599.

The recommended retail price of the Techrific Samsung tablet is given as $769 despite Samsung never putting the device on sale in Australia and despite having a phone contact symbol on their web site, Techrific have no number listed for the online Company which appears to operate out of Victoria.

Other web sites listing the Samsung device for sale include eBay operators, simplyelectronics.com.au. Expansys.com.au and dMavo.com.au.

All of the operators offering the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 offered an Australian Warranty with one operator telling ChannelNews that the warranty was being offered by "Samsung".

Last month online retailer Ruslan Kogan was threatened with legal action by Apple after he offered a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 for sale. Kogan in a blaze of self created publicity said he was withdrawing the Samsung tablet from sale.

Neither Apple, nor Kogan have supplied ChannelNews with evidence of any correspondence between the two parties relating to the Samsung device.

Senior patent lawyer Mark Summerfield, from Watermark in Melbourne told Fairfax Media today "If this is an outcome of the injunction, the harm is not to Samsung, which makes its sales all the same, but to the Australian retailers who do not have the opportunity to compete," said.

"If we could ask one question of Justice Bennett in the wake of her decision it would be this: does she really believe, in a global consumer economy, that there is any practical value in an Australian court slapping an injunction on a mass-market consumer product that is, in any event, widely available for purchase online?"

An unidentified director of dmavo.com.au told ZDNet Australia that he was importing hundreds of Galaxy Tab 10.1 units to cater to a large influx of inquiries following the court injunction.

The director told the website that they believed Apple had no basis for legal threats against them.